It is a common practice to install a bath tub in a recessed part of the bathroom that serves as a shower enclosure. The walls of the recess are typically finished in a waterproof, usually tiled surface. A shower curtain running the length of the tub, over the open side of the recess, provides for shower entry and egress. The shower curtain is supported on a curtain rod by a plurality of slidable rings and hangs inside the bath tub, several inches below the top surface. However, there is a radiused internal corner and a ledge at each end of the tub, where the shower curtain tends to hang away from from the wall. This creates a potential leakage path along the wall at each end of the tub. Unless the user is extremely careful, shower splash and spray will find its way, past the shower curtain, along the end ledges and to the floor.
Such shower leakage has been addressed by commercially available splash guards, which may be mounted at one or both ends of the tub. The splash guard is fitted to the wall, on the top surface of the tub, where it blocks the leakage path along the end ledge. With the guard placed in this manner, just outside of the shower curtain, the curtain may then be tucked up against the inner face of the guard and the wall, to further improve protection against leakage.
There are inherent difficulties in the installation of such available splash guards. They are typically installed with a "peel-and-stick" adhesive backing that adheres to the wall and the tub rim. Since these surfaces are more-or-less perpendicular, it is difficult to bring the square profile of the guard into contact with one surface, without prematurely touching the other. The adhesive is aggressive by nature, and where it touches, it sticks. Another reality is that the enclosure walls are often not perfectly perpendicular to the tub. No matter, whether the angle acute or obtuse, the adhesive bond to either the tub or the wall will be incomplete, causing a weak joint and a gap that must be filled with tile grout.
Another consideration is safety. Getting in, or out of, the tub is hazardous at best, particularly for seniors. A rigid, relatively thin splash guard at the end of the tub can become a knife-like edge that poses a risk of severe injury. A fall, that otherwise might have resulted in a simple bruise, can cause a fracture or worse.
An object of the present invention is therefore, to provide a splash guard adapted for easy installation and removal. A second object that this splash guard should have the capability to conform to installation where the walls are not exactly perpendicular to the tub rim. A third object is to provide a splash guard that does not impose an increased risk to the user in case of a fall. Yet another object is to achieve all of the foregoing attributes in a splash guard that is aesthetically pleasing yet inexpensive to manufacture.
The present invention accomplishes these objectives by providing a splash guard made of an inherently flexible and deformable elastomeric material. This splash guard includes attaching legs fitting to the wall and tub in a nominal 90.degree. installation, but provides a curved or wave-form connecting web that deforms to allow angular variations. An increase or decrease of the web curvature provides the requisite angular accommodation. The force required to deform the web is significantly less than the adhesive bond strength attaching the legs of the guard to the wall and tub. This same material mitigates the added hazard of conventional splash guard installations by allowing the splash guard of the present invention to flex or deform under impact rather than act as a rigid, knife-like edge.